Alban shines, women place fourth

In a quad-meet at State College Pa., Women’s gymnastics finished in last, posting a team score of 189.650, placing behind host Penn State (196.975), New Hampshire (194.225) and the University of Pennsylvania (193.000).

Coming off of a career best performance last week at West Virginia, senior Jean Alban continued to lead the way for the Owls. The reigning Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Gymnast of the Week scored a 38.350 in the all-around. Alban performed best on balance beam, posting a team-high score of 9.775 on the apparatus, and on bars scoring a 9.575.

“I felt pretty good with the outcome that I had,” Alban said. “I feel mentally as a senior I kind of know what to expect, I’m more comfortable with my adrenaline and the nerves for a meet and just learning how to focus on the important things.”

In what has usually been consistently the Owls best event, the beam lineup did not perform well. With the exception of Alban’s 9.775 and junior Brittanie DeMeno’s 9.625, the rest of the lineup struggled as Temple scored a season low 46.825.

“It was such an odd thing because beam has been our strong point all season long,” coach Aaron Murphy said. “And our girls just couldn’t stay on [the beam], it was almost like the balance beam was wobbling.”

However, Murphy said he was very happy with his team’s performance on bars.

“I feel so good, I feel like such a proud coach, we went six-for-six on bars and that was just excellent,” Murphy said.

Sophomore Natali Ruzich led the way for the Owls on the apparatus, scoring a 9.725, sixth-highest amongst all participants in the meet. Freshman Tara Kilkenny also had a solid routine, posting a 9.500, helping Temple to a season-high event score of 47.600 on bars.

Temple will be in action next on Sunday, 1 p.m., as they will head to the College of William and Mary for a tri-meet with Yale.

Get us delivered to your inbox

Sign up for weekly updates from The Temple News

The Temple News has been the paper of record for the Temple University community since it first printed as Temple University Weekly on Sept. 19, 1921. The award-winning student publication, editorially independent of Temple, now publishes every Tuesday and daily online. The Temple News distributes 5,000 printed copies, free of charge, to the university’s primary locations in the Delaware Valley.